


Caught

by medical_mechanica, Verdin



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-24
Updated: 2018-08-24
Packaged: 2019-06-30 15:44:55
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,161
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15754767
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/medical_mechanica/pseuds/medical_mechanica, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Verdin/pseuds/Verdin
Summary: For Day 5: To save his life, Noctis is given half of Ardyn’s immortal heart.Iggy does a bad, bad thing, and two kings have to suffer the consequences. But it's kind of a happy end, right?





	Caught

The world slowly ebbed. Ardyn Izunia, ruler of the known star, was ready to take his leave.

The fight with the princeling had been more of a challenge than he expected. All he put him through seemed worth it in the end.

It had hurt. Of course it had hurt. To be pierced and slashed again and again was not a pleasurable experience, and not a new one, even if he marveled at the amount of abuse his mortal hull could take these nights, and how distant his mind, Ardyn Lucis Caelum's mind, was. Not the raging dark that controlled the rest of that body, just little old him, the one that was smiling as he sank to the ground, the desperate pulse of his own heart in his ears after so, so many years.

Let it go.

_Let me go._

He was too weak, too _tired_ to make sense of the shadow that knelt over him.

_Reggie. Old chum. No hard feelings, right? Coming to take me home?_

His eyes tried to focus on the blue glow that started filling his vision. Did not manage. Remained open, broken, when the man above him plunged his dagger into his stomach, opening him up with surgical precision.

_How very, very impol--"_

 

***

 

"What have you _done_ , Iggy?" Noctis, ruler of Lucis, asked. And Ignis told him.

 

The Citadel definitely had a dungeon. It was ancient, well studied and worn, and had since been turned into a museum. Admission had been little on the expensive side, but just about as much as anything else in Insomnia was. Real criminals were taken to the Crown City penitentiary away from the city center until the Wall fell. After? Well, afterward both were pretty useless, swarming with a few odd legions of daemons. Which is why when the Kingdom's greatest enemy needed to be locked away somewhere, neither space would found adequate, at least not to Ignis' standards. Which was why Noctis Lucis Caelum, True King of Insomnia, was on his way to an oddly retrofitted part of the Citadel, tucked away from windows but outfitted with useless windowpanes nonetheless. His old man had kept it somewhere between a safe and study, fully stocked as a saferoom. It always struck him as odd as a kid, but he wasn't about to argue it's usefulness anymore.

Switching around the wiring so that it locked in instead of out ended up being an easy task for Prompto, and with some renegotiating some metal doorways, Gladio was able to construct a decent door. Not a cage. A door.

Noctis kept turning the words around in his head as he rounded the corner to visit the Citadel's only inmate, Ardyn, formerly Izunia.

He found him reading, or staring at a book at least. His greatest fear looked strange in a white tee and plain grey trackpants. _Human_. He sat on the floor, his legs crossed.

Ignis had the room cleaned out, nothing in it anymore but a metal bed, a table and a chair. Had made sure Ardyn needed to ask the guards every time he needed to follow a human need. No more freedom for him, not even the little ones.

As Noct approached, he felt his heart grow heavy. _His_ heart, the immortal, dark thing that was beating with the human one in his chest now. _What have you done, Iggy?_

"Your Majesty." The golden eyes did not look up. He felt him, just as Noct felt _him_ , and there wasn't as much cynicism in the smooth voice as to be expected.

The word still sat funny to the young king, who blinked in reply. He should have said something, anything really. "Hn," was about all that he could muster. Noctis gave a quick glance to the guards on either side of the door and held back a sigh. Not that they were watching, but he knew they were within earshot, and that was enough. Put on the spot, as stately as he could, he followed up with a "What are you reading?"

He tried not to roll his eyes at his own question, shoving aside more desperate questions like _"Do you feel this too? What's happening?! What do we do? Do you still want to kill me?"_

“I...“ A sad grin, lacking all the former suaveness, “I really don't know. It might be about love, or about death, or a really mean case of herpes. It is not particularly well written, but the only thing they gave me.“

"That bad, huh? I bet it was Gladio's." And _there_ it was, the casualness, and even Noctis took himself by surprise with his response. He ran with it, both hating and looking forward to these visits. "Do you... want another one?" This piqued the guard's interest. The King made for a shitty warden, but after an incident between Ardyn with each of the other guys, Noctis took it upon himself to start checking in, against Ignis' wishes. Ardyn never seemed too bothered by him from what he could tell. From in the cell _-room_ , he noticed the man who failed to be King eyeing him keenly. Shooting a quick glare at an offended guard, he made it a point to lean onto the door, provoking an even more worried response. "Got anything in mind?"

“Something that's not mainly busy with two lovers stroking their egos and ending in nothingness would be a nice change.“ A little cock of the head. “But what about Your Majesty? Anything in mind?“ He closed the book, and judging by the cover, it was indeed one of the intellectually probably appealing, but marvelously depressing works of _literature_ Gladio preferred.

 

 _Not unless you like graphic novels_. Noctis wanted to reply, but held back. Fraternizing was fun and all, but he didn't need Ardyn knowing about the pile of Justice Monsters comics he still had stashed somewhere in the Citadel from his childhood. His heart thudded in his chest.

They already shared enough.

"Just books." Noctis stepped back, ready to leave, but lingered. His former enemy looked so empty, so _harmless_ , it was getting increasingly difficult to stop by time and again to see the deteriorating life in the room. The king sighed to himself, conjuring up all of the terrible things that brought them both to be on opposite sides of the door. All of the lives lost.

Then Noctis recalled Ignis' actions, the decisions made, and well, didn't Ardyn seem _fixed_? This was a debate had every visit, a repetitive thought process that held an increasingly smaller amount of water.

_Weren't they supposed to be dead?_

"Heya, what about comics?"

Ardyn drew his knees towards his chin, hugged his arms around them. So much not what he used to be...

“Comics? Well, are they? I would like to think the there is still laughter in these old bones. And princeling?“

A shrug and a nod, about to walk off but bristled at the nickname. Cringing, Noctis turned back to the cell.

"Don't call me that," a grimace, "but what is it?"

“Thank you for this kindness. It is both unexpected and undeserved.“ It did not sound like he was joking. Having Ardyn sound _sincere_ felt like another person speaking with his voice.

It was returned with a scoff, and what could almost be a blush. "Yeah, well," the young king sputtered a bit, regaining an incredulous look from the guards. _Gonna end up having to explain this to Iggy._ "It's not like you're doing anything else in there, right?"

And it was true, he really wasn't. It's not as if Ardyn was allowed time outside, or any real accommodations, because he tried to end the world. Noctis rolled his eyes, called out for his kindness. "We could just weld the door shut and leave you here for good." Saying it stung, but pulling up the weight of all the deaths in Ardyn's wake, like a shield, helped.

A slow nod. “That you very well could. Or take me back to Angelgard. Chain me down there. Leave me to rot. You would even make sure it would work properly this time, until you grow tired of waiting.“

He sounded strangely serene, somehow already beyond fearing what he seemed to consider an unavoidable fate.

_That was the plan._

And it had been the plan, but every week Noctis managed to persuade Ignis to push it back. And back. And back. Months had passed, and Noctis couldn't help but feeling like it was for the best. He looked at the shell of a man that was once a beast.

"Yeah, but where'd the fun of that be? I gotta show you my shitty comics now. Worse fate than Angelgard *or* Gladio's books."

Golden eyes focused on him, so weary, so very _tired_ , and Ardyn tried a smile. “If that is what Your Majesty wishes, it is what will happen.“

"Tch," an agitated scoff and the young king left, leaving Ardyn alone with his one stupid book.

 

\--

 

Only several hours later, nowhere near a scheduled visit, did Noctis appear back at the bars, stack of old comics in hand. They had been harder to find than he remembered, and he might have cancelled a diplomatic meeting or two to find them all. It was a dumb idea, but one that had been gnawing at him since their earlier conversation. None of the guys knew what he had been up to, especially when they asked to help.

"Hey."

It was late; the guard had changed. They seemed just as confused as the ones earlier with a minor chimes of "Your Majesty?" followed up by a hand to quiet them. The inmate was in bed, but not asleep, craning his head up at the commotion. Noct held out the stack through the bars.

"Told you."

“That you did.“

He got up, still in the same clothes, and came over to the steel rods to take them personally.

Became slower as he got closer, a hand pressed against his chest. It looked like he was trying to keep something inside, painfully so, but kept on walking.

“In a way, I have to admit I miss you,“ he murmured,  just loud enough to reach Noct's ears.

The comment stirred something in the young king, some immovable something, and he tried to keep from changing his mind about everything on the spot. "Yeah, well, now you got these." A stranger thing still happened after that, as Ardyn approached. Between a flutter and a pulse pulled through his chest, intensified as Noctis held out stack out farther.

It should have been a simple pass off, and by all accounts, it was. Noctis had the books, and then Ardyn had taken them from his hands. But, in the brief moment that their fingers overlapped, everything seemed to be lit in sharp relief. Breath caught, and all of the neurons firing in time with the very core of his being, wanting to restrict and expand without warning, heart pounding in his ears and then, serene calmness. Noctis gasped, hands held out stock still once Ardyn held the comics.

The Accursed stood on shaking legs, a mix between surprise and _bliss_ painted on his face. He blinked. Once. Twice. Managed a “These seem to be rather magical works,“ before he pressed the stack against his chest, just to steady himself.

"What was that?" Came a hushed whisper from the young king. Just as stunned as the other, Noctis's hands slowly retreated, but found themselves resting on the bars. He wanted to send the guards away, wanted to talk about what came over them, but doing so would eventually lead to an explanation. So instead, he leaned in carefully, hushedly whispering "- Did you feel that too?"

A silent, somehow _shy_ nod. "Will you allow me a pen? I would like to start a diary, if it is not too much to ask for." That was in normal volume again.

Casting a sly glance over,  he produced a pen from his pocket. "And that's all you get." Noctis projected coldly, albeit rather unconvincingly. Him being there at all for so long was already an issue. He shot a look back to the inmate, brow raised, pleading.

Ardyn took the it, carefully avoiding to touch the pale hand. Coming so _close_ , his fingers trembling. "Thank you, Your Majesty." A very slight bow. "I will take good care of these, don't you worry." He placed the pen behind his ear and patted the comic books. "Do not let me keep you from your important business."

With a nod, the king was off.

 

\--

 

The rest of the night, Noctis could barely sleep. He tossed and turned, falling into pools of restfulness scattered through periods of surfacing back into the sight of his sheets, and the window, and the dark empty space of his room around him. He thought to the lone prisoner of the Citadel, writing , or reading or something not sleeping, and he felt his heart beat heavy, cold, and alone. The stinging vastness of the world was that much greater now, and as his mind lingered on the sensation in his chest as they passed off his comics earlier, he finally fell asleep.

 

In the morning, a somehow _irritated_ Ignis brought him the first issue of the Justice Monsters he had given to Ardyn together with his breakfast. "He insisted on you having this back as soon as he _studied_ it since it was so close to your heart. How long do you intend to continue this mockery, Noct?"

"Tch," He felt like a kid, caught escaping with Iris again, but held off on an eyeroll. Plucking the comic back, he tucked it away into the Armiger. He didn't respond to the tactician, merely waving it away idly and distracting Ignis with questions about the day's schedule. After several meetings of varying importance, the sun hung low in the sky. Saying goodbye to Lady Lunafreya, he stalked back to his room, making a point to avoid anymore of his compatriots, feeling an impending blowback brewing.

 

Noctis laid down in bed, conjuring up the first edition. It looked just the same as he remembered, although the ink had faded slightly and the pages were worn, but the similar slip of excitement that thrilled him growing up was still there, beating in time with whatever else laid there.

 

He opened it up, and out fell a note, scribbled onto the back of an old doodle.

It had been held inside by spit and good hope. The letters were by a hand that was not used to writing anymore, some of them in a font that had fallen out of use ages ago.

"My dear little Noctis,

I miss you. That is so very true. Do you know what your father did? What he who is in his place now did? Why we are still here in this miserable world we were so very ready to leave? I have a good idea, and I fear that once again I may be right. I miss you like a piece of my heart. Which, in a way, is quite amusing. None of us would have thought I still have one. I will spare you the blushes in front of uninvolved eyes, but remember one thing. You are the King, and the King's wishes will be obeyed."

 

Noctis could feel his face get hot by the end of the letter. He held it closely and pouted, as if someone was looking over his shoulder, although he was distinctively alone in the room. But, it wasn't as if he had to be... An idea dawned on him then. It was a terrible idea. One that might upend a lot of the faith his friends had in him, but he had to know what Ardyn had to say. It would take several layers of fanangling, but his heart burned. He needed to be with the man. Alone.

\--

" _Rehabiltated_ ? Noct, the idea was to let him _rot_!" Gladio, captain of the guards, was not taking his request well. "I'm not taking my men off their posts. What if he _tries_ something? Have you even put this past Ignis?" An eyeroll. "He's not going to be happy about this."

Noctis huffed, "It's his fault in the first place!" And a sigh, regretting the petulance in his tone. Gladio glared. The young king hardened. "It's an order."

 

A sigh and a resigned nod, and that's how Noctis came to be standing in front of Ardyn's door, alone for the first time.

The place seemed to be even more silent than the rest of the palace, ancient and devoid of life, even with the heavy and very modern security systems on the door.

It took him a while to unlock them.

 

Ardyn was laying on his thin mattress, arms crossed behind his head, his eyes closed.

"Your Majesty." A whisper, nothing more, but so very loud in here. "We have not been alone in a very long time."

That pull again, and the first few tentative steps Noctis took into the room quickened. Ardyn wouldn't have had the time to react before Noctis was at his bedside, placing a hand over the former inmate's heart. The sensation of tense constriction followed by calm overcame him again, and from the look of it, Ardyn had felt it too, gasping in place. "What's happening?" Noctis whispered in reply. It was as if any louder sound would break the moment.

The chest under his fingers tensed in deep, _excited_ breaths, and the first gasps turned into little moans. All the control Ardyn had kept for so long washed away, making him a very human mess under Noct's hand.

Noctis blushed, thinking he should remove his hand, until he budged it and a coldness threatened to swallow him again, making him realize that he would very much like to keep his hand on his former enemy's body. Heart fluttering, the king slowly ran his hand up the man's chest to his neck. Noctis sat on the edge of the bed, gently holding Ardyn's head as he sighed in ecstacy, letting his thumb trace the other's jaw. For once, the ache in his chest ceased.

His more and more disheveled captive managed to pry his eyes open, pupils deep pools of blackness. "Like this, princeling..." voice almost breaking, "...I cannot talk, I fear..." His hands closed around Noct's arm, dragging him closer, craving more of him, so much more.

And he let himself be dragged down, awkwardly coming to lay over Ardyn. The overcoming bashfulness and frustration that tightened in his guts, feeling less control in his head, he couldn't deny the way his skin tingled and the weight in his chest eased until it felt light. The dread that had been welling evaporated.

 

Noctis eased into the touch, running his other hand into wispy hair and breathing deeply, letting his eyes slide shut.

“You do not want this, princeling. You loathe me. The part that is still you does.“ And yet, the hands that found their way under the black fabric of his shirt felt so _right_ , so _hungry_ , and the body below him moved in the same rhythm as his own.

"I do hate you," the king's voice grumbled easily into the sensation comingling between them. His chest thudded so loud in his head, where he thought it could be heard throughout the room, but mostly only felt as a gentle pulsing. He grimaced, forehead haphazardly falling on the pillow next to Ardyn's face. "I hate being away too. More. Ugh."

Ardyn grinned a desperate grin, his hands wandering down Noct's side, holding onto the prominent knob of his hip bone. “You don't. In the end, you don't. But then, there must be no love for a communion.“

With a languishing sigh, the young king curled up into the being of once ancient evil. Noctis ran his hands down to the front of Ardyn's shirt, gripping the collar as if he wanted to hurl the man across the room as hands lingered on his hips. Instead, he came to breath heavily, resting a temple on the man's cheek. "Why?" The harsh whisper punctuated the room.

“My _heart_ . Dark and tainted and beating inside of you. Noctis Lucis Caelum, on the throne, with Ardyn Lucis Caelum's life.“ A laugh rose deep in his chest, dry and with a tinge of madness. “I just desired _death_ , and now I'm _this_...“

A deep hum came from the younger, of forced understanding by _feeling_. Pressing his face painfully, almost longingly, against Ardyn's face as he spoke. Noct decided to have another word with his advisor once he got the chance.

 

"Your _Majesty_."

 

Which would turn out to be much sooner than expected.

 

A shiver ran through Ardyn's body, even though it wasn't him who was called that, or was it? It was nice  to imagine it as long as the moment lasted.

Noct grunted in frustration, burying himself deeper into Ardyn's arms. As his back noticeably arched, he called "Ya know, this *is* your fault somehow."

“It is, and I will be punished for it, sooner or later.“ A soft kiss on the young prince's cheek.

All too soon, like Noctis was pulled along, out of his body. He found himself away from the cell, away from Ardyn, the discordant tune pulsating down to his gut. Iggy's stern admonishments never reached his ears.

His head was too far in the clouds, still feeling the hum in his chest, and how fingertips gripped into his lower back, the way the ancient man's skull felt pressed to his own. Recalling Ardyn's jaw, and mouth...  It was enough to bring a faint blush back to his cheeks.

 

\--

 

The One True King of Lucis lay in bed, uncharacteristically wide awake once again, head still spinning. The Dread had settled back in his chest, a dark heavy feeling that seemed to pump it's way throughout his veins. As he stared up at the ornate ceiling, he missed the weightlessness in the way his heart beat so close to his prisoner's, brain all too willing to imagine the way Ardyn might appear over him. Noctis let his legs part as the aching pulse reached his cock, hardening as quick as it could, wasting no time to reach under his sheets and down his pants. He thought on the stubble against his face and neck, wishing he could feel it scrape his collar bone while a teeth marred his neck. Pulling another hand joined the first as he  wrapped the base of himself with a thumb and index finger and gently pulled. The young king moaned loudly, lips parted, daring to breathe the name of the man he so hated. Needless to say, he was alone for the moment, but maybe didn't have to be.

He closed his eyes, conjured up the memory of the man in his cell, in his simple white shirt. _Off with it_ he ordered, and Ardyn followed suit. Showed his new scars, where the blades had pierced him, still fresh and raw, and the old ones, where the whips of Solheim had torn into the accursed healer.

_To the bars. Back against then. Down with your pants._

Ardyn grinned, the charming, roguish grin of former times. _As Your Majesty commands_. A little groan as skin touched steel.

 _Spread your arms and hold your position, no matter what I do_...

Noct's let the tips of his fingers run over skin that hadn't felt a gentle touch in ages, smiled as he heard Ardyn gasp. _You deserve punishment. You know you do._

Nails ever so slowly explored the fresh scars, barely closed up, and with a just a light tug, he pried them open again, watched in unexpected delight how obsidian oil ran down immortal skin, shying away from his presence when his fingers came close like a scared animal.

A groan. _What is Your Majesty doing?_

_Cleansing you, fallen healer, as it should have been done a long time ago._

_It hurts_. He winced, but remained in his place.

_I know._

And yet, it felt good, so very good. Being here, being without fear, being _whole_ , and the naked man shivering under his touch and yet, leaning into it. Noctis knew Ardyn's lips were moving silently, praying for him to continue, to go deeper, to tear him apart with caressing claws, and this knowledge made his head swim.

 _We have all the time in the worlds now--_ something inside him said, and the prisoner before him bowed his head. A sob ran through him, making Noctis smile.

_On your knees. Face to me. Open your mouth, and keep it open._

 

It took the young king a few minutes after he came to fall back into the secular world he lived in. The secular, uselessly luxurious room he lay in. His chest felt so painfully, utterly empty that he couldn't hold back the tears.


End file.
